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COVER STORY

DIOXIN DECEIT

by Judi McLeod, Editor

September 28, 1999

Greenpeace, which sends activists to protest industries it deems responsible for dioxin emissions, is itself a producer of dioxin in its monthly magazine, 'The Greenlink'.

In fact, tests conducted by Philip Analytical Services Corporation for Toronto Free Press conclude that both dioxins and furans are evident in the Greenpeace Canada’s quarterly newsletter with updates of Canadian and international campaigns, which sells for 50 cents an issue.

"The relative toxicity of dioxins and furans present in material is generally expressed as Toxic Equivalent Quotient (TEQ). The paper material tested was found to contain only trace amounts of dioxins and furans with an overall TEQ of 0.625 pg/g (picograms per gram)," concluded project manager Dave Howell in his comments in the Certificate of Analysis. “As a reference, the fish tissue guideline for consumption restriction was set at 10 pg/g (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, 1997) and also 10 pg/g for soil remediation for agricultural land (MOEE, 1996).”

Last July, Greenpeace Canada Executive Director Peter Tabuns categorically denied that any dioxin would be found in Greenlink Magazine. "I would really doubt that," Tabuns said. But in a telephone interview for this article, Tabuns said that he was not taken by surprise.

"I assume that if we use recycled paper, dioxin would be there," he said.

"It's ubiquitous. That's why Greenpeace is fighting the organo chlorine industry around and want it to switch."

Each country where Greenpeace maintains a presence produces Greenlink. In Canada, the magazine is printed in Toronto. When asked to specify the printer, Tabuns said he could not remember.

"Recycled paper is chlorinated. We want the industry to stop producing chlorine."

When asked whether he thought it would be prudent for Greenpeace to stop producing its magazine if the magazine can not be printed without dioxin or furans, Tabuns replied: "I don't like the smog in the air, but I have to breathe it."

When asked whether he thought Greenpeace was hypocritical to protest industries held responsible for dioxin emissions when it produces dioxin itself, he replied: "I haven't even thought about it."

The world's largest environmental organization has vowed to rid the world of chlorine early in the millennium.

Earlier this month, Greenpeace accused the United States of "deliberately backing away from action to eliminate the highly toxic chemical dioxin, a retreat that will likely cause this dangerous substance to proliferate in the environment."

"Only a few governments, including the U.S. and Canada, are standing in the way of totally eliminating POPs by pretending risks from these chemicals can be managed, when there is no safe level of exposure," said Greenpeace senior campaigner Jack Weinberg. "The current U.S. position would result in dramatic increases in dioxin emissions in the developing world. It will encourage developing countries to repeat the mistakes of the industrialized world by embracing obsolete pollution control systems instead of adopting the dioxin-free technologies that exist today."

The goal of a United Nation's treaty is to craft a legally binding agreement to eliminate chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as dioxins, DDT and PCBs. Dioxins are unintentional by-products of the manufacture and incineration of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC (vinyl).

Anti-chlorine, anti-vinyl Greenpeace continues to collect money from the sales of its Rainbow Warrior record albums and CDs. Albums and CDs use vinyl and chlorine in their manufacture. In late August, police arrested 26 Greenpeace activists protesting dioxin emissions in Copenhagen, Denmark. The arrest was made on a ship that was blocking a harbour to protest a Danish steel company's alleged emissions of dioxins. Before dawn, officers boarded the M/V Greenpeace which had been blocking the sea entrance to the Danish Steelworks.

Greenpeace continues to make great strides in other areas of the environment and brought in activists from across Canada to Ottawa earlier this month to work out a strategy to fight genetically modified foods. To date, 23 groups, including The Sierra Club and Greenpeace are examining genetic engineering, which involves splicing the genes of one organism on to another to protect crops from herbicides or fight pests.

Protagonists have coined the name "junk science" for the Greenpeace agenda. Huge corporations give up when Greenpeace calls. Shortly after receiving a Greenpeace fax, Novartis, the big Swiss drug and biochemicals company, instantly agreed to stop using genetically engineered strains of corn and soybeans in its Gerber baby food line. The company said it wanted to be "ready" just in case the European food phobia jumps the Atlantic.

States a Wall Street Journal article, Greenwar (Review & Outlook Section): "It makes little difference to Greenpeace that biotechnology is already everywhere. Coke has been using high-fructose corn sweetner made from genetically modified corn for years. Half of the soybean fields in the U.S., the world’s largest producer, are planted with genetically modified seeds.

Soybeans and their derivative products are estimated to exist in some form in 60% of processed foods. And no one has sprouted wings."

Soybean products are also in great demand for women in menopause, an age group well represented in Greenpeace.

According to "Greenwar, Greenwar," Greenpeace needs a bogeyman, and biotech promises to be a fund-raising bogeyman for decades to come.

"In Europe, across the whole food technology front, confusion and hysteria have displaced reason and economics, with incalculable costs to those who are trying to bring new and beneficial innovations to market. Now a 'scientific steering committee' is proposing a ban on antibiotics in animal feed even though there is no scientific evidence for the claim that this increases antibiotic resistance in humans.

"On such Luddite tides ride a lot of unrelated interests. Putatively responsible people like Prince Charles, who farms "organically" on his ancestral estates, has joined the attack on "frankenfoods", thereby putting himself on the same side of the argument as Britain's worst tabloids. Another gentleman farmer, Greenpeace Director Lord Melchett, who made his money by inheriting a chemicals fortune, was jailed recently for leading a band of his zealots to destroy a government-run experimental farm. Never mind that the farm was seeking the sort of biotechnology-safety answers the group says it wants.

"All of these things, plus the fact that biotech could be painted as a conspiracy of U.S.

agribusiness, have worked against the industry in Europe. When the Iceland grocery chain decided to use genetically-modified foods as a wedge issue, it ran a picture of Bill Clinton with the tagline, "The U.S. President doesn't care what you put in your mouth." One hesitates to speculate what Americans would have made of the slogan. The best lesson we could learn from Europe is the foolishness of allowing food technology and safety to become politicized merely for the benefit of fund-raising by the fringe.

Greenpeace victims could make up their own 'Another One Bites The Dust' section.

Closer to home, Home Depot caved in to Greenpeace tactics by saying they will be selling only "certified" non-growth forest lumber in their stores by 2002.

Perhaps Greenpeace is looking for new paper on which to print Greenlink.

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com



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